This Zincate Dip allows you to plate on aluminium. After dipping your work in the zincate, you can then brush or tank plate.
It is best to check if your aluminium is conductive before starting, by using one of our conductivity testers. Your aluminium may be anodised and this will make it non-conductive and therefore impossible to plate.
You will need to remove the anodised layer before you dip it in our Zincate Dip and then brush or tank plate. Please see our video showing you how to do this by clicking on the ‘Videos’ tab.
Please see the links below in the ‘Related products’ section.
HS Code: 3824 99 70
Here’s a video showing how to remove an anodised layer from anodised aluminium so that it becomes conductive and plateable. Once the anodised layer is removed you can then dip it in our Zincate Dip and plate on top.
Zincate dip produces a dense, continuous immersion layer of zinc on aluminium, which can then be plated with other metals.
It is possible to brush plate small, non-complexly shaped zincated aluminium articles for functional purposes such as electrical contacts. We recommend thickening the brush plating solution first with Thickener before starting plating. We do not recommend that the brush plating process is used for decorative items such as mobile phones.
Adhesion can be improved by stripping the zincated layer off in ActiClean then re-zincating. Please refer to Tech Specs for more information.
Operating Conditions and Deposit Data
Temperature
18 – 25 °C
Immersion time
30 seconds to 2 minutes (see notes)
Thickness of zinc film
0.5 – 0.6 microns
Agitation
Occasional work movement.
Appearance of deposit
Grey continuous layer
Special storage requirements
Away from strong acids
Shelf life
1 – 2 years
Health and Safety classification
Irritant
Special considerations
None
Transport (UN number)
1824
Notes:
The aluminium article should be dipped until a continuous grey film appears.
After the zincate dip, quickly rinse and dry the article with a clean paper towel and then plate with our Nickel Brush Plating Solution which has been gelled with our Thickener.
For maximum adhesion, heat treat at 250 – 300 centigrade for an hour after zincating
and drying with a clean paper towel but before nickel plating.
If left in the solution too long, the adhesion of the zinc film is reduced, leading to
blistering and in extreme cases, lifting of the plating.
To strip the zincated layer, dip in ActiClean for 10 minutes. Please note that once
the ActiClean has been used for stripping, it cannot be used for any other process.
General guide;
Certain small items, for example Swabs, Nibs and Plating Pens can be sent by normal post within the UK
The courier option for UK deliveries is FedEx
Free UK mainland delivery available on orders over £200
International orders usually 3-5 working days.
For all price quotations for deliveries, please add your items to our shopping cart. You will be able to see the shipping costs by clicking on the ‘Calculate shipping’ button in the cart and before checking out.
Please click on the link below to download the SDS for this product:
